Page:Essays - Abraham Cowley (1886).djvu/64

 Seneca, ex Thyeste, ''Act 2. Chor''. Stet quicunque volet, potens,
 * Aulæ culmine lubrico; etc.

Upon the slippery tops of human state,
 * The gilded pinnacles of fate,

Let others proudly stand, and for a while,
 * The giddy danger to beguile,

With joy and with disdain look down on all,
 * Till their heads turn, and down they fall.

Me, O ye gods, on earth, or else so near
 * That I no fall to earth may fear,

And, O ye gods, at a good distance seat
 * From the long ruins of the great!

Here wrapped in the arms of quiet let me lie, Quiet, companion of obscurity. Here let my life, with as much silence slide,
 * As time that measures it does glide.

Nor let the breath of infamy or fame, From town to town echo about my name; Nor let my homely death embroidered be
 * With scutcheon or with elegy.